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This weekend: Play with the sun

JoeMiller — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 16:16:34 +0000

View from the Ivy Gut Trail at Goose Creek State Park.

The statewide forecast for the weekend: Sunny with highs in the low 60s, which makes this an ideal weekend for just about every outdoor adventure. We offer three options especially well-suited to the forecast.

Coast

Right now is about the time it’s comfortable — and sane — to start venturing into a coastal forest. (Between April and November, exploring coastal forests is tantamount to offering room service to any bug that sucks blood for a livelihood.) That makes it the ideal time for “The Forest of Goose Creek: Past, Present and Future” at Goose Creek State Park near Washington (North Carolina’s Washington, the pleasant one). A ranger leads you on a hike of the Ivy Gut Trail and fills you in on the natural and cultural history of this park, located along the mighty Pamlico River just before it becomes the mighty Pamlico Sound.

Logistics: Sunday, Nov. 10, 2 p.m., Goose Creek State Park, Washington (N.C.). More info: 252.923.2191.

Saturday forecast: Sunny, high of 64.

Piedmont

If you’re a cyclist but are skittish about riding in traffic (meaning encountering more than one car every couple of minutes), check out Saturday’s Climbs of Caswell Gran Fondo Cycling Challenge. (“Gran Fondo” is the hipstery way of referring to a ride.) There’s a 100-mile ride beginning at 8 a.m., a 100-K (64 miles) starting at 8 a.m. and a 10-mile family ride beginning at 10 a.m. The routes are on the friendly country roads of Caswell County, which are always scenic but especially so with fall color peaking. Also, there’s Brunswick Stew. And the ride benefits Children of Vietnam.

Logistics: Saturday, Nov. 9, rides starting at 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and noon (see above). Online registration is closed; go here for additional information or call 336.421.4054.

Saturday forecast: Sunny, high of 61.

Climbing at Chimney Rock.

Mountains

Ever wanted to try rock climbing, but every time you’ve looked into it it seemed like too much of a commitment, both in time and money? Saturday’s Chimney Challenge at Chimney Rock State Park may be the opportunity you’ve been looking for. For $20 (plus the price of admission to the park), you can get up to four climbs on the park’s Vista Rock, all under the experienced eye of Fox Mountain Guides. All equipment and instruction is provided. You get to check an experience off your list and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Henderson County get your $20 fee.

Logistics: Saturday, Nov. 9, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Chimney Rock State Park, Chimney Rock. $20 for the climbs, plus admission ($12 for adults, $6 for 5-15 year-olds, 4 and under free). For more information or to schedule a climb, go here or call 888.284.8433; for more on the park, go here.

Saturday forecast: Sunny, high of 61.

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Those are our thoughts on the weekend. Find more options at the sources listed below.

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Todd’s Calendar

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Great Outdoor Provision Co.
Calendar includes three weekly events for each of its seven markets: Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem. Search by market.

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

U.S. National Wildlife Refuges
Rundown, by month, of regular activities at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service refuges in North Carolina.

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Man, is there ever a lot to do in North Carolina

JoeMiller — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 09:20:15 +0000

Fayetteville's ZipQuest

Tuesday, I had one of the more exhausting times I’ve had in 20 years of covering outdoor adventure — and I was in an air-conditioned building. At a catered affair.
The affair was a media event sponsored by the North Carolina Division of Tourism, a gathering of tourism promotion types from around the state and the people they hoped would write about them. People such as myself.
Immediately upon walking in the door of the Contemporary Art Museum — CAM for short — in downtown Raleigh I was met by my old buddy, Suzanne Brown. Suzanne and I worked together for years in the Features Department of The News & Observer, Suz overseeing everything entertainment, me doing my outdoors thing. In 2008, we were both part of a massive newsroom exodus. I landed here, Suz at Tourism, a job that suits her as she wasted little time getting my attention.
“Do you know about the Southeast Coast Saltwater Paddle Trail?” she asked.
I didn’t, but I didn’t feel too bad upon learning that the trail is a work in progress, a proposed — though some of it exists — paddle trail running from Virginia south through the Carolinas and Georgia, where it will meet with the existing 1,515-mile Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail. A kind of Appalachian Trail for paddlers.
“Cool!” I said.
“What about Jetpacks?” she wanted to know.
“And what about telephones with TV screens and flying cars?” I said.
No, she said, you can now rent a JetPak on the Outer Banks.
Then, in a Graduatesque nod to the Next Big Thing, she leaned in and whispered “Zip Lines.”

Cycling the Roanoke Canal Trail.

“Have you been to ZipQuest in Fayetteville? It’s a two-and-a-half-hour canopy tour that takes you over the largest waterfall in the eastern U.S.”
A zipline over the highest waterfall in the East — in Fayetteville? I started edging away.
“You can also fly a Wright Brothers glider!” she yelled, chasing me down the hall.
The madness continued inside the main hall.
At the Halifax County booth, Lori Medlin, president and CEO of the county’s convention and visitors bureau asked if I’d been to the Sylvan Heights Bird Park in Scotland Neck. Hike 5 miles at this 18-acre preserve, take pictures of more than 170 bird species from around the world. “There’s even a treehouse. And it’s handicap-accessible!”
“You like trails?” she continued. “The 7-mile-long Roanoke Canal Trail in Roanoke Rapids is pretty popular.”
Lori shared a table with Claire Phillips, director of marketing and public relations for the Pinehurst/Southern Pines/Aberdeen Area. I expected to hear something about golf. “We have an extensive greenway system,” she said.

Tubing at Hawksnest.

I found myself at the Fayetteville table, expecting to hear more about the zipline to outer space. And I did, but I also learned that Fayetteville is also home to the biggest indoor climbing gym in the state, The Climbing Place, with 18,000 square feet of climbing surface, 40,000 holds and 60 top ropes.
I learned that Chowan County has more than 300 miles of mapped paddle trails, that Washington has a Sunrise Yoga Paddle service as well as a Wine and Cheese Paddle, and that Edenton rents canoes and kayaks out of its harbor.
I learned from Craig Distl that since the Hawksnest Resort near Boone abandoned skiing and snowboarding a few years back it’s gone tubing and zipline crazy. And I learned that while they still ski and ride at Ski Beech, the highest ski area in the East, they’ve also opened the Emerald Outback, an 8-mile mountain bike trail network.
I learned that the Biltmore in Asheville is getting its own marathon and that a mountaintop-to-mountaintop zipline is being planned at Navitat north of Asheville.

Mountain biking at Beech Mountain.

Farther west, I learned from Charles Conner with the Nantahala Outdoor Center that the NOC is about more than just really fast moving water. Survival, for instance.
“We’ve got a Survival School that shows you how to survive 72 hours in the wild,” he said, adding, “Seventy-two hours — that’s about how long most people stay lost.” The ones who end up getting found, that is.
By the time I’d worked my way to the westernmost part of the state, I was pooped. But not too pooped to visit the craft beer booth, where Win Bassett was more than happy to fill my sampler cup with the handiwork of North Carolina’s 65 craft breweries (or at least the 65 that belong to NC Brewing). Fullsteam Brewery’s Summer Basil was particularly tasty.
A handful of booths remained, but — holy cow! — I’d just been across North Carolina on everything from a zipline to a JetPak to the Wright Brothers glider.
I needed a nap.

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